The fair
by SGA4077
Summary: A police officer, a fair and a slightly drunken Canadian scientist in handcuffs.


A/N: Lots of thanks to my beta The Wishyles! All remaining mistakes are mine.

The fair

Officer Delaney had been a police man for more than thirty years, the most time of it in a small town in Colorado. Thirty years of breaking up the odd brawl, investigating the occasional burglary, checking out car accidents, keeping marital disputes civilised. The big things happened elsewhere and that was how Officer Delaney liked it.

Today it was another brawl between fairground showmen, carnies, and members of the nearby military base. The witnesses had already been questioned and it was time to interrogate the alleged offenders.

Delaney entered the interrogation room. It was a small, green and beige room with a table and two chairs. An old-fashioned recorder stood on the table, still working despite its age. The alleged offender, a man in his early forties with short, brown hair, was already sitting at the table, handcuffed. He stood up, when Delaney entered the room, "Are you in charge here?"

The officer nodded and pointed at the chair, "Please sit down again."

"Yes. Yes, of course." The man radiated with insecurity.

The police officer put a file on the table and sat down, "Dr Meredith McKay?"

"I prefer Dr Rodney McKay, apart from that…"

Delaney interrupted him with a gesture, "What kind of doctor are you?"

"Physicist, but just listen to me for a moment. The military can sort this out, we…"

"No. We frequently deal with people from the Cheyenne Mountain. They always say their mission is top secret and their identity must be disguised. I'm not interested. I have some injured carnies so – tell me what happened at the fair."

McKay lifted up his cuffed hands, "And these?"

"They stay on."

"You can't be serious." McKay moaned.

"I can and I am. Again – tell me why several carnies from the Colorado fair were admitted to hospital with fractures and contusions."

"They started it! Well, maybe, at least… Anyway, we wanted to do something fun. We've been through a lot and just wanted to relax. Sheppard, Colonel Sheppard, insisted on finding a Ferris wheel. I don't know why he's so keen on them, he normally only likes things that go over 200 km an hour, but that's why we went to the fair."

"You, Mrs Emmagan, Mr Dex and Mr Sheppard?"

"Sounds strange, the way you say it." McKay giggled.

Delaney leafed through the file. "It says here that you have been drinking and could be under the influence of alcohol. Are you feeling well enough for to continue?"

"Ab-so-lute-ly." McKay tried gesturing but the handcuffs constrained his movements.

"You wanted to ride the Ferris wheel?"

"No, not me, but Sheppard. Then we found out that there wasn't a Ferris wheel on the fair. Sheppard was frustrated so I proposed to visit the mouse city. I like to watch mice, they're cute. Then Ronon said we should have a beer instead. I was outvoted. After the beer, I proposed to go to tin can alley . Ronon said we should have another beer. I was outvoted. After the next round, I proposed going to the 'High Striker'."

"Let me guess: you were outvoted." Delaney couldn't help himself, he grinned.

"No. Teyla wanted to know what a High Striker was. Sheppard described it and so, of course, Ronon had to do it."

"Mrs Emmagan didn't know the game?"

"She doesn't come from here. Anyway, we had a go at the High Striker, Ronon won of course, and then he wanted another beer. So we went back to the bar. Afterwards, I insisted on seeing the mice. Sheppard said there are enough mice in Atl… Afghanistan. Teyla said she would like to see the mice and that we had already drunk enough."

"What does a physicist do in Afghanistan?"

"That's top secret!"

"Okaaaay. So you went and saw the mice. What then?"

"Ronon grumbled that the mice were boring. Sheppard was jealous because the mice had a miniature Ferris wheel and the fair didn't. So we went back to the bar and had another beer. Then Sheppard said Teyla and Ronon had to have a ride in the ghost train. I didn't want to, but Sheppard said he had gone to the mice, so now I had to ride the ghost train. I said this was a stupid argument, but Ronon insisted and dragged me to the ghost train. He was curious about it and probably… Well, probably we should've told him what to expect. So, first surprise was this guy pretending to be the 'Grim Reaper', with a black cape and a scythe, which he swung over our heads. Ronon thought he was attacking us and jumped out of the wagon. We yelled at him to stop, but he had already landed a punch on the guy's chin."

"Mr Dex had never been on a ghost train?" the police officer asked in disbelief.

"He doesn't come from here. The 'Grim Reaper' was on the floor and we were trying to explain when the other carnies arrived. They called us 'drunk' and 'smashed'!" McKay was getting agitated.

"You were drunk though, weren't you?" Delaney had to resist grinning again.

McKay tried gesticulating with his right hand but the movement was hampered by the handcuffs. "We may have drunk a bit too much, but that didn't make us drunks!"

"Calm down. Now, what happened next." The officer smiled encouragingly.

"Yes, of course." Embarrassed, McKay nodded. "Well, by now there were seven, eight carnies surrounding us, and of course the 'Grim Reaper' was still lying on the floor. When Ronon tried to help the 'Grim Reaper' up one of the showmen attacked him with a spanner so Sheppard went to defend him. And then…"

"And then?"

McKay shrugged his shoulders, "Then the brawl started. They wouldn't listen, people were everywhere, everything was chaotic. Finally the police arrived."

"And are you able to say who hit whom?"

"No. No idea. But…" The scientist jumped up and faked a punch with his right hand, nearly overbalancing as he forgot about the handcuffs. "… I landed a direct hit on one of them!"

"Oh. So you're proud about punching someone else?"

McKay stopped in his tracks. Looking rather sheepish, he sat down shaking his head, "No, no, no, of course not."

"Can you tell me anything else about the incident? Were you hurt?"

"No. May I leave now?"

"Another officer will escort you to your cell in a minute." Delaney smiled at the man in front of him. He didn't know whether it was instinct or years of experience, but he believed this Dr McKay. "You'll probably be allowed to leave this evening."

McKay sighed, relieved, "Oh good. I don't like sleeping in cells."

"I beg your pardon?" Baffled, the police officer stared at McKay.

"Uh, sorry, I meant, I'm sure I wouldn't like sleeping in a cell."

Shaking his head, officer Delaney switched off the tape recorder and left the room. The people from the Cheyenne Mountain complex were always strange.


End file.
